Second Mile Award, Wisconsin Association of County Agricultural Agents, 1995

ASAE member, 1963-present

Registered Professional Engineer, North Dakota

National Institute for Farm Safety

Society of Automotive Engineers

Expertise Summary

Professor Schuler serves as the statewide extension specialist in agricultural field machinery focusing primarily on machine performance. The machines of primary interest are conservation tillage machines, forage harvesters, and tractors. Conservation tillage machine selection and operation are important in controlling soil loss due to erosion. For forage harvesting, the quality of the forage is of particular interest especially with the availability of new machine designs. Tractor selection and operation have impact on soil compaction, which may create crop yield reduction.

Other extension activities have been in the agricultural safety and health area with particular interest in providing education and assistance to farmers with disabilities. More than 1000 Wisconsin farmers with disabilities have received direct assistance during the past twelve years. Youth programs in tractors and small engines provide an opportunity to conduct safety training.

His research has been in the area of precision agriculture dealing with remote sensing of agricultural production fields and sensors for sensing soil moisture with a moving tillage implement and variable application of animal manure. Remote sensing data have been collected on seven crop production fields to evaluate the use of this data to identify yield-limiting problems during the growing season. A soil water content time domain reflectivity (TDR) sensor was designed into a tillage element, which permitted the collection of geo-referenced soil water content data in a crop production field.